This application relates to a hanger for containers and the like which may be made of a single piece of plastic and which, if desired, may be made separate from the container, for attachment to various container units when and as desired. Alternatively, the hanger may be made integral with a plastic container.
Sterile medical solution containers are usually provided with a hanger at the bottom of the container, so that they can be hung from an inverted position for administration of the medical liquids, such as parenteral solutions, wash solutions, or the like. Examples of patents which show such hangers include Betka U.S. Pat. No. D-235,310, Fujio U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,658, and Von Alvan U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,339.
The hanger of this invention makes use of a unique combination of features to provide significant advantages of construction and operation over the prior art.
For example, the hanger of this invention may be simply snapped onto the tail pinch seal of a blow molded plastic bottle, which permits application to a plastic bottle in which the entire tail seal is recessed. This is advantageous over the design, for example, of U.S. Pat. No. D-235,310, in which the hanger slides onto the end of the tail seal, rather than snapping on, and permits use of the hanger of this invention with a more easily molded, recessed tail seal as illustrated in the drawings of this application.
Additionally, the hanger of this invention can be completely recessed into the bottom of the bottle, in its initial configuration, when used in conjunction with a bottle defining a recessed tail seal.
The hanger of this invention is attached with flexible joints instead of folding hinges. This aids in the manufacture of the hanger in that (1) the plastic does not have to flow through a very thin section of the mold cavity to fill the entire cavity, and (2) molded hinges require immediate flexing after molding to ensure their strength and flexibility while being used, while the thicker flexible joints of this invention do not require such working.
While the hanger of this invention can lie in the recessed portion of a bottle and so as not to interfere with the standing up of the bottle, it unfolds to form an extra-large loop for facilitating ease of hanging. This is because of the initial, folded configuration of the hanger of this invention, which can unfold to form the extra-large loop.